


What if We Need Each Other?

by quakingbird



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Friendship, mama may
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2018-11-02 10:43:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10942869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quakingbird/pseuds/quakingbird
Summary: What if May and Daisy met years before she got picked up by the Bus? What if they met right after Bahrain, when May was still working in admin and Daisy was living life in her van? How would their stories change?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Aaahhh first fic ever! Constructive feedback greatly appreciated <3

Melinda May sighed as she set her coffee down on the table in the crowded coffee shop. She had always hated paperwork, and now she had so much of it that there was always some to take home each night. But at least working out in public, surrounded by other people, was better than being alone in her apartment. The quiet always seemed to make her thoughts louder. Thoughts of Bahrain- of the little girl- and before she knew it she was waking up with an empty bottle beside her.

 _At least this shop doesn’t sell alcohol_ , she thought with a wry smile. But she knew it wouldn’t matter even if they did. She may be willing to let her guard down in the safety of her apartment, but years of training would never allow her to do so in a public space. She forced any remaining thoughts of her training- of her past life- out of her mind as she opened up her laptop to the next stack of paperwork. She always knew the transfer to admin would be hellish, but she had never quite grasped the hundreds of pages of spreadsheets she would be expected to sift through each day. But at least she was safe here. At least when she was doing paperwork, no one else could get hurt. With that thought, May settled in to tackle a particularly nasty-looking spreadsheet she had put off the day before. Across the shop, someone else was opening up their laptop as well.

Skye grinned as she looked into her cup of coffee. Her last freelance job had payed well- enough for her to treat herself to one of those fancy hot lattes that always looked so good when she didn’t feel like turning on the heat in her van. The weather was getting quite chilly in the city- cold enough for Skye to take refuge in the warm coffee shop for a few hours while she contemplated her next move. She could always go south for the winter- maybe spend some time with the hordes of retirees in Florida? Texas could be cool too. Or maybe even the West Coast. It would be a bit of a drive, but Skye had always wanted to visit LA. And hey, it wasn’t like she had anywhere better to be than inside her van. Skye grinned as she began googling where in LA would be a good place to park her van.

Twenty minutes later, Melinda was still struggling with the same spreadsheet she started with. Every time she thought she had the hang of this dang computer software, something else managed to elude her. Right now she was attempting to calculate Delta team’s expenditure from the last quarter. Should be simply enough, but no matter how many times she redid the calculation, the sum the spreadsheet was giving her was simply incorrect. Which she knew because her human brain was better than any dumb computer software. The problem was, her computer hadn’t seemed to get the message. She made a sound of frustration and closed her eyes. Maybe if she didn’t look at it for a few minutes, it would get the hint that it should do things her way. At any rate, it certainly couldn’t hurt.

Skye was busy contemplating which Walmart parking lot would be the best places to park for sleep during the ride cross-country when she was pulled out of her thoughts by a loud groan. Looking around, she saw a petite Asian woman sitting back in her chair with her eyes closed, looking angrier than anyone else in the shop. Skye looked at her for a moment. She was definitely older than Skye was- probably old enough to be her mother actually. On the screen in front of her, she could make out some sort of Excel spreadsheet- the kind that Skye had flown through when they’d used them back at one of her middle schools- the one the Brighams had sent her to for part of 4th grade, with the fancy computer lab. She smiled, reminiscing. The Brighams had shitty kids who used to pick on her, but man that school had some great facilities. Too bad they sent her back after 3 months. Skye looked back over at the woman, who had opened her eyes and was now frowning at her laptop screen the same way Skye glared at the bugs that invaded her van. Oh well, Skye sighed as she stood up. Guess this is my good deed for the day.

Melinda opened her eyes and groaned internally when she saw nothing had changed on her screen. She really didn’t want to go into work tomorrow and ask one of her younger co-workers for help. They all gossiped about her too much as it is, and she preferred actually speaking with them as little as possible. Suddenly, she stiffened as she saw someone approaching her. A young girl, probably late teens. Pretty, if a bit thin- like she hadn’t had a square meal in a while. Definitely didn’t look like a threat. But why would she be walking towards her? Before she could ponder any further, the girl stopped next to her table. “Hi! I’m Skye. I noticed you were struggling a bit, if you wanted some help?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been forever!! I'm in school so can't promise regular updates, but I will try my best. Feedback always appreciated <3

Melinda heard herself respond to the girl with a curt “no thank you,” an automatic reply from the past few months in admin. Thinking about it, those are probably the only words she’s spoken to most of her coworkers, her tone combined with her trademark glare enough to send even the boldest of them scurrying away for good. She turned back to her screen, assuming this girl would have the same reaction. Not a second later though, she heard the chair next to her being pulled out and the girl sat down instead. “Look. If you really want me to leave I’ll go- but I’ve been watching you glare at your screen like it’s personally wronged you and I happen to be pretty good with computers. No charge either, I promise.” 

Melinda found herself actually considering the girl’s offer. Accepting help from this stranger was definitely better than having to speak to one of her coworkers. And the information she was working with today certainly wasn’t sensitive in any way. Plus, she was a little curious about who this girl was- it had been a long time since she’d met someone who wasn’t scared away by her glare and “go away immediately” tone of voice. In fact, the last person who didn’t flinch the first time they heard it was Phil, back during their first week at the academy. Before she could second guess herself, Melinda slid her laptop over to the girl. “Alright then. Let’s see what you can do.”   
Skye beamed as the other woman passed over her laptop. She wasn’t sure why, but there was something about this older woman that made her want to know more. And even though she certainly had a 1000 watt glare, Skye good tell she was a good person. Years of being in the system meant that she was excellent at making snap judgments about people, and this woman would certainly have been one of Skye’s better placements. Definitely didn’t look like she would hit or starve a kid. 

True to form, Skye started chatting as she typed away on the woman’s keyboard. “Hi! I’m Skye. Passing through the city while I do some freelance coding work, which is why I know so much about computers. What about you?”  
The other woman stayed silent, leveling her gaze with Skye’s before finally sighing. “Melinda.”  
“Nice to meet you Melinda! So what do you do? Financial stuff, by the looks of this document?”  
“Office work.”  
Well, the woman certainly wasn’t the chatty type, but that was okay- Skye could chat more than enough for the both of them. Even though she was eternally grateful for finally being away from the orphanage and the slew of shitty foster placements, her van did get lonely sometimes. So for the next 20 minutes, Skye chatted away as she worked. 

Melinda didn’t say a word throughout any of Skye’s stories, but she kept her eyes on the girl, listening intently. The girl’s stories were lighthearted- embarrassing moments at school, games she used to play as a kid- but something quickly caught Melinda’s attention. Most of Skye’s stories began with “The school I went to at the Klein’s…” or “When I was at the Sharden’s…” Was Skye a foster kid? Her next story, about some prank she had played on “those uptight nuns at the orphanage” confirmed Melinda’s assessment. Huh. The girl looked pretty young- Melinda wondered how long she’d been out of the system. Anyway, it wasn’t really any of her business. 

Finally, Skye passed the laptop back over to Melinda. “All done! I added in some shortcuts too so things should be a bit easier next time. Anyway, have a good day!” The older woman nodded her thanks and Skye turned to go.   
“Wait!” Skye turned back around, a bit taken aback by hearing Melinda speak again. “Let me buy you coffee or something. As a thank you for the help.” Skye grinned and quickly scribbled her number on the receipt sitting at the edge of Melinda’s table. “I have to head out now, but yeah I’d love to- just text me anytime.” With that, the younger woman turned and bounced out of the shop.

Melinda slowly put the receipt with Skye’s number in her bag, lost in thought. She hadn’t really meant to make plans with the girl- her mouth had acted before her brain caught up, something that didn’t often happen to her. But there was just something about Skye. Melinda wasn’t sure what it was, but her intuition was telling her to get to know the girl better. And regardless of everything that had happened at Shield, her intuition had never failed her. Anyway, the girl certainly wasn’t a threat. Nothing bad could come from meeting her again. Phil was always pushing her to ‘get out there’ and ‘meet new people’. Skye probably wasn’t the type of person he had in mind, but maybe he was right that she needed to have friends again. And if she was right and Skye was recently out of the system, maybe she could use someone new to talk to as well. It was certainly refreshing to interact with someone outside of Shield- someone who didn’t know her reputation, who looked at her like she was just another normal human being. Yeah, she probably would text Skye. With that thought, Melinda headed out of the coffee shop, not even noticing the slight smile on her face that hadn’t appeared in months.


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey.”

Melinda looked up to see Phil perched on the edge of her desk, sliding a clearly homemade sandwich towards her. She silently scolded herself for not hearing him coming- being out of the field so long was making her rusty.

“Thanks.” She said back to him, taking a bite of the sandwich. It was pickle and cheese of course- Phil’s favorite sandwich combination that Melinda would never admit that she actually loved, though she always ate it anyways. “How long have you been back for?”

“Mission ended last night, though I’ve been stuck in meetings with Fury all morning trying to smooth things over. You wouldn’t believe the shit Nat and Clint pulled this time.”

Melinda continued eating as she listened to Phil’s stories about their latest mission. He probably wasn’t supposed to reveal so many mission details, but they were the only ones in the office at the moment and it wasn’t like she didn’t have the clearance. A year ago, she would have been prat of the mission, probably joining in whatever crazy scheme Clint had come up with and promising Phil afterwards that _of course_ this would never happen again.

“Anyway, we completed the assignment and no one got seriously injured, so Fury’s letting it slide. How’ve things been over here?”

“Same boring paperwork, but at least the rest of these admin drones have stopped gossiping so much.”

Phil nodded to show he was listening but didn’t reply right away. For a moment, Melinda was afraid he would start needling her about rejoining the team. He hadn’t brought it up in a while, and she wasn’t sure she could handle it today. To her relief though, he went for a different topic instead.

“So… have you taken my advice? Been trying to get out more?”

Melinda smirked. This, she could have fun with. “I have actually. Started going to a coffee shop in the afternoons instead of back to my apartment. Even met someone about a week back.”

She’d barely finished her sentence when Phil jumped down from the desk in excitement. “What! Who?! A SHIELD agent? No, you said at the coffee shop so must be a civilian. What’s he like? Have you run a background check? Doesn’t matter, I’ll run one anyway. We should…”

Melinda finished the rest of her sandwich and scooped the crumbs into the trash underneath her desk. It had always been easy to get Phil riled up- at least some things never changed. If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend they were still teenagers back at the academy. Actually, she’s pretty sure they had this same conversation back then. She glanced down at her watch, starting to internally debate how long she should let Phil continue when he finally stopped speaking, panting as he looked at her expectantly. As fun as it would be to string him along, that would probably take more energy than she had at the moment. Better to just come clean instead.

“Phil, it’s not a man. It’s a girl actually- a young girl. She helped me out with some work on my computer, I offered coffee as a thank you, and she gave me her number. No big deal.”

“Oh. Huh. So did you see her again? What’s her story?”

“Not yet. Actually, I tried to run a background check a few days back and came up empty. I know her name’s Skye and she was in the system, but I couldn’t find anything about her. Probably need more information, plus Skye might be a nickname. She’s definitely not a threat though.”

“I didn’t say she was.” Of course- Phil would never think any civilian in a coffee shop was a threat, especially not a young girl without a family. His naivete had always frustrated Melinda, but was also one of the things she loved most about him. It was rare to find a SHIELD agent who was so genuinely kind. “I think you should call her.”

“I’ll think about it.” Melinda gave Phil her trademark ‘drop it or else’ look just as the rest of the office came back in from their lunch break. The girl intrigued her, but there was still something holding her back. Melinda glanced over at her phone as Phil headed out, contemplating.

**********

Skye was spending the afternoon camped out in a back corner of the local public library. She’d always liked libraries. Before she won her own laptop she was almost always in the closest library, sitting at their computer desk. Honestly, she probably learned more from hanging out in libraries than she ever had in school. Even now when she had her laptop, she enjoyed coming here to work on her projects. This latest project- setting up a starter website for a photographer promoting her work- was so rudimentary that Skye quickly found her mind wandering as she typed away. She’d been here for a while already, and really there was nothing keeping her here anymore. She didn’t have any more projects lined up after this one, so she really could pack up and leave within the next week. That would be the smart thing to do. For some reason though, Skye didn’t really want to leave yet. _How funny that after spending my entire life moving around, I would want to put down roots when I’m living in a van_. Actually, now that she was really thinking about it, she supposed could stay here a bit longer. She had enough saved up to get a little space heater for her van, the owner of the diner she was parked behind was still grateful for her help setting up their website, and DC was a big enough city that she could find more work in a heartbeat if she wanted to. Yes, it really just made sense to stay here a bit longer. Skye was staunchly ignoring the voice in the back of her mind that was saying the _real_ reason she wanted to stay was on the off chance she’d get to see the coffee shop woman again. Which was ridiculous of course. She’s essentially a total strange, no reason Skye should care about seeing her again. Plus, it’s already been a week so she probably wasn’t going to text anyway. Shaking her head, Skye finally realized how hungry she was- definitely time to swing by the diner and grab a bite. She packed up her laptop and stood up, grabbing her phone from where it had slid underneath her while she was working. She had turned the ringer off when getting to the library, so just now noticed a text that had been sent a couple hours ago.

“Hello, this is Melinda from the coffee shop last week. Are you still up for that cup of coffee?”


End file.
